Metro Atlanta's

new water superagency had its first meeting last week, and Fayette County

Commission Chairman Greg Dunn said the group is already growing into a

huge bureaucracy.

"It's

incredibly complex already, and we didn't even get started yet,"

Dunn told fellow commissioners last week following the organizational

meeting of the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District. Dunn is the

county's representative on the board.

The agency,

created by the state Legislature this past spring, is tasked with developing

regional plans for dealing with water quality and quantity in a 16-county

region that includes Fayette.

Originally,

18 counties were included, but it looks like Barrow and Carroll counties

will be dropped from the group, Dunn said. "They met the technical

requirements, but are not really in the areas affected," said Dunn.

During the

first meeting, Dunn said, an organizational chart unfolded that includes

29 members, headed by an executive committee of about seven or eight people.

The executive committee will appoint a finance committee to deal with

funding of the agency, Dunn told The Citizen.

He warned commissioners

last week that financing the group's mission will mean that counties will

have to pay dues, similar to those charged by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

"You can anticipate at least $90,000," he told the group during

its budget work session, repeating a phrase used often during the budget

discussions: "It's just one more unfunded mandate."

Two technical

coordinating committees will serve the water agency, probably composed

of people in the various water and sewer departments, Dunn said, adding

that he will try to make sure representatives from Fayette's government,

plus those of Fayetteville and Peachtree City, are on those committees.

Then there

will be six advisory committees, tied to the six major rivers in the region,

with about 20 members on each. Fayette will be involved in the advisory

committee concerned with the Flint River basin, and as the only county

completely contained within the river basin, will take an active role,

he predicted.

In addition

to members from the affected counties, the advisory committees also will

have members from upstream and down stream, Dunn said. "They could

have another 40 people," he said.

"How they're

going to cull out information that they're going to get to us in usable

fashion I don't know,"

he said.

One concern

for counties like Fayette, Dunn said, is that the executive committee

will include representatives from only the five largest counties in the

region Clayton, Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett. "It's looking

like the rest of us would be like the supporting cast," he said.

"I'm concerned about that makeup. They'll be able to sort of have

their way."

Fayette will

work hard to influence the executive committee through the advisory panels,

Dunn said.

Chairman of

the group, Joel Cowan, is a Fayette resident, a point in Fayette's favor,

Dunn said, adding that Cowan has mentioned the need for more multi-jurisdictional

water projects, aiming to solve water problems as a region instead of

locally.

"We approach

the table with the best water system ... the most modern water system,

and we will help our neighbors, certainly," said Dunn. "But

we will have to protect the investment of our taxpayers here as well,"

he said.

The board will

meet again June 29, July 20, Aug. 17 and Sept. 21, Dunn said, adding he

hopes to get a better feel for the group's mission at future meetings.

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